How the Presence of Airbnb has shifted real estate in New York City

Since the presence of Airbnb in New York, residential properties have shifted from a place to live, to a place to make a profit. The city of New York has since passed many legislation and are still in legal battles, but how effective have these limitations on Airbnb been?

How it Began

Airbnb first launched in 2008 as a product to allow travelers to escape hotels and hostels in order to have the 'homestay' experience. Since its launch the company has seen exponential success as it has expanded to 100+ cities across 220+ regions with more than 7 million listings worldwide. Forbes estimated the company at $31 billion. The company's success, however, has not been welcomed by everyone. Residents from across cities have argued for better policies protexting residents against the influx of rent and limited availability of properties caused by Airbnb. New York is currently listed as the third most popular city on Airbnb. In fact there is said to be 50,000 listings every block. We take a look to see how New York has handled Airbnb's presence and how the numbers add up.


A Timeline

The fight between Airbnb and New York has taken many turns throughout the yeras. Take a look at the timeline below to explore just how far it goes.

NYC Legislation

Protesters across the country have argued that Airbnb has forced an increase of rent and limited properties due to monopolization of the market. As a move to protect its residents, NYC's most recent legislation in 2016 not only prohibits, but fines hosts for advertising illegal listings. This bill specficially targets listings claiming to lease entire units for short term rentals (under 30 days) which has been illegal since May of 2011. In this 2016 bill, hosts found guilty are fined $1000 for their first offense, $5000 for their second offense, and $7500 for their third+ offenses. We take a look how this bill impacted number of Airbnb listings.

Number of Airbnb Listings Drop Following 2016 Bill

Since the 2016 bill, the number of Airbnb listings have significantly dropped proving that NYC legislation has deincentivized illegal listings.

Number of Airbnb Bookings Drop Following 2016 Bill

As number of listings drop, we would expect the same to occur with the amount of bookings. Below we take a look at number of properties booked each calendar year. As seen in the break down below, Airbnb becomes increasingly popular up until the NYC legislation is passed, impacting profits.

The Law vs Profits

New York City is a hot spot for tourists and therefore Airbnb's market. We take a look at just how profitable the market is and if hosts are really complying with NYC.

Entire Units Are most profitable

Given that NYC is popular to many tourists, it is the perfect ground for Airbnb. As a host, however, what type of room gives you the most amount of profit? We take a look below.



Listings still do not comply with law

Seeing that entire homes are often most profitable, what percentage of listings are actually advertised correctly? We take a look at the minimum stay requirement posted for Entire Homes / Apartments. Results are seen below.

Hosts have multiple properties

Based on this data, it's seen that hosts are still not fully complying with NYC's law. We asked ourselves how many of those entire home or apartments were owned by the same person. Next is a look at hosts and the number of unique listings each has. Below is a comparison from before New York's 2016 advertising ban versus after.

Property Development

As hosts are continually posting illegal listings, property management has been expanding. Below we take a look a the increase in rental properties being build.

Rental Property Listings Increase Each Year



Number of New Airbnb Hosts Decline After 2016

Number of new unique Airbnb hosts are decreasing, yet overall NYC rental listings are on the uprise. This is allowing for a clear path for hosts to continue to monopolize on open units in the city.


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